“It doesn’t scream New Zealand.”

This is by far the most common argument that I hear against the “Red Peak” flag. The person uttering this sentence is, of course, completely correct. But here’s the thing- Red Peak’s abstract design, devoid of kiwis or ferns or gumboots or sheep, is exactly why it’s the perfect flag. We don’t want a flag that is instantly and obviously symbolic of New Zealand. Here’s why:

The New Zealand that we are today is not the same as the New Zealand we’ll be 5 years from now, or 50 or 100 years from now.

Our identity as a country will never remain constant. It will shift and evolve in the face of wars and peace, tragedies, celebrations, victories and defeat. Just as our individual identities are shaped by life’s twists and turns, so too is our country’s. Our identity is the product of our story- a story that is still being written. The future is, and will always remain, uncertain. Tying ourselves now, to a symbol that is too literal, too prescriptive, only limits what our flag, the symbol of our nation, might come to mean in the future.

The beauty of Red Peak is not that it is clean, or geometrical, or that it works well at different sizes, or holds its own against other flags. All these things it may be, but its true beauty lies in its abstractness. Its lack of literal meaning leaves us free, both as a nation and as individuals, to attribute meaning and significance to it that resonates with us now and in the future. Its simple, abstract shapes can evolve and take on new meaning over time, growing with us, rather than ageing and becoming less and less relevant as the years tick by.

Selecting a new flag is a fairly permanent decision. We’re being asked to commit to a single symbol- an expression of our identity both now and in the future. It’s a huge question, and yet so many are quick to point towards the obvious answer. It’s a lot like getting a tattoo as a teenager. How many of us have one of those that we regret? We walked into the tattoo shop, nervous but full of youthful confidence in our choice. “This dolphin/butterfly/My Chemical Romance lyric is who I am and who I will always be.” We were so sure that we already knew who we were, that we could pin it down neatly and never have to worry about the question of our identity again. How many of us were right? I know I wasn’t. We chose symbols that were too literal, ideas that were too final and too defined. We committed ourselves to symbols that had an expiry date, and we outgrew them, just as New Zealand will no doubt outgrow any one of the shortlisted flag designs.

As a country, we need to do what our teenage selves didn’t- we need to accept that we don’t know who we will be in the future and then we need to select a flag whose story will evolve as ours does. If we don’t, New Zealand is going to end up with a very permanent, very bad tattoo.